One of my greatest surprises!

Lately I have been a little melancholy. I've been missing my family and friends VERY much. Yesterday was a weepy day for me. Kevin, who is rapidly learning how to be an A+ husband, responded perfectly. He held me, rubbed my back, told me he loved me and just let me cry. He didn't try to explain things away, he just said he understood. Wow! Good job honey!

After my little cryfest yesterday, I was thinking about friends and family today. I'm heading to California in March to see some friends. One of those friends is Christine Marie G.-R. Chris and I go back pretty far. We met on the first day of our first year at SDSU. We were 1st North Waneta girls! At the time, we had no idea we would become such good friends, but that's another story for another time. Today, I want to talk about how Chris G. and my dear husband-then my fiance-pulled off one of the biggest surprises of my life!

It was a Friday night in May of 2004. It was just a few months before our wedding, and I was keenly feeling the absence of my friends and family. I really longed to see someone, anyone, but I knew it could not be, for they would all be spending great amounts of money and time to attend our wedding in July. I was feeling sort of the same way that I have been lately. That night, I really wanted to do something fun with Kevin to get my mind off of how much I missed people. He came to my place that night and said that his best friend, Jay, and his wife, Tara, were flying back home from Vegas and they needed someone to pick them up at YVR. We were the chosen ones. I didn't really mind that, because we do that for each other. They had picked Kevin up before, but I have to admit, it wasn't really what I felt like doing on that particular Friday night.

We went to the airport and once we arrived I checked the arrivals board. I didn't see ANY Vegas flights and I asked Kevin if perhaps their flight was delayed. He then said, "Oh, I think they were coming from LA." Upon hearing that, I was a little bummed, because it said the LA flight was seriously delayed. I couldn't understand why Jay and Tara hadn't called us to let us know. Now we would be stuck sitting at the airport, waiting.

As we were waiting, Kevin decided to play a little game. He loves doing this, so I didn't suspect anything. He said as people came through the doors from the baggage area we should try to guess what their jobs were based on how they were dressed. Bored and wanting something to distract myself, I agreed to play along.

Out came an older man with two kids...business man. A young girl with a backpack and ponytail...student. The older lady with salt and pepper hair...grandma returning from a visit. On and on went the game. Suddenly a girl walked through the doors. She was about my age and dressed very stylishly. Kevin looked at her and said, "What about her?" I glanced at her and looked away, and then suddenly my head whipped back around. What happened next is one of the greatest, funniest moments of my life, and Kev and Chris STILL laugh about it.

I looked at the girl and half-whispered, "That looks like Chris! Wait a minute, it IS Chris!" Why the thought that she might be there to see me never registered in my mind, I do not know, but suddenly I was mad! So many thoughts suddenly rushed through my mind. I thought, she must be on her way to some other place and had a layover here. Why didn't she call me? I can't believe she would be in the area and not TELL ME! So many thoughts were rushing through my mind. Kevin tells me that the look on my face was priceless and he desperately wished he had a camera. I could no longer stand it. I yelled out, "CHRIS! CHRIS!" She turned, looked at me and a huge smile broke out across her face. Suddenly, it all became clear. She WAS there to see me! She ran over to me and suddenly I was hugging her and crying so hard I couldn't stop. I cried out, "WHAT are you doing here? WHAT are you doing here?"

She replied, "I missed you and I thought I would come to see you!" I soon learned that she would be there for the entire weekend, just to spend time with me. She, too, was coming to the wedding in July and would be my personal attendant, but she knew how crazy things would be and wanted to spend time just with me. The weekend was so wonderful. We took her up to Whistler (see above photo), we took her out to eat, and she and I stayed up all night just talking. Chris and I lived together my last year of university, and it felt like we were right back there. She and I used to spend hours talking into the night, and it was as though we had never left off. I took her downtown to Death by Chocolate that Saturday morning and we sat there, simply talking, for over four hours. I learned about the new guy that she was interested in-her husband now-and she listened to my wedding excitement.

It was a truly amazing surprise. She and Kevin had e-mailed, phoned one another, and worked for MONTHS to figure out the surprise. I still get tears in my eyes thinking about it, and how wonderful it truly was. I do not deserve the friends that I have.

Chris later moved to Washington to be near that guy! Again, she surprised me. My family knew she would be moving there, but she asked them not to tell me. What a great surprise that was as well! They don't live there anymore, but I got one good year with her so close that I could see her for the weekend. I was honoured to be the one that was with her when she found the wedding dress of her dreams. We have had many good times together and I can't wait to see her in March! No, it's not a surprise, but it will be wonderful anyway. Some friends are friends for life. I'm so blessed to have so many of them in MY life.

Chris and I at one of Kevin's hockey games

Chris and I at a BC Lions Game!

Chris and her then FUTURE husband, Tom at her Washington apartment